"3M, Minnesota Settle Water Pollution Claims For $850 Million"

"NEW YORK - Industrial group 3M Co and Minnesota’s attorney general have agreed to settle a lawsuit over polluted groundwater, with the company agreeing to grant $850 million to the state for groundwater projects, the attorney’s office said on Tuesday.

Attorney General Lori Swanson had been seeking at least $5 billion in damages from 3M to help clean up the company’s disposal of industrial chemicals in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area over the past 40 years.

The Minnesota-based company said in a statement the grant would enable projects that “support water sustainability” and “improve groundwater recharge” in the Twin Cities. It gave no details of what the projects involved."

Tina Bellon reports for Reuters February 20, 2018.